Notes / Commercial Description:
Award winning Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale is a unique sipping beer with the distinctive nose of a well-crafted bourbon. Our Kentucky Ale is aged for up to 6 weeks in freshly decanted bourbon barrels from some of Kentucky’s finest distilleries. Subtle yet familiar flavors of vanilla and oak are imparted to this special ale as it rests in the charred barrels. Pleasantly smooth and robust, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale may also be served as an aperitif or after dinner drink.

Poured a clear amber brown, with a small tan head that died quickly.Did leave some lace rings as I progressed through the brew. Intriguing aroma of a barleywine type caramel and malt  just some hints of bourbon.

Then the quaff, nice hints of a Maker Mark type bourbon, Then a finish comes with notes of vanilla, which by mid-bottle become a tad too dominate. The vanilla sweetens the brew too much  it just needed a touch, and we got a handful. Still a tasty brew, medium bodied, crisp and dry.

The 7% alcohol is nowhere to be seen. Sip and enjoy this brew (just cut that vanilla in the next batches).

A friend of a friend brought a four-pack of this up from Kentucky when he came up for New Years Eve last night. I had never had it, or heard of it, so I was anxious to try it. As we sat and chatted about all the bourbon distilleries in Kentucky, I sipped this out of a Stella Artois gold-rimmed glass...

A: Pours a crystal clear gold with a spritzy white head. The beer was as clear as can be with no signs of priming yeast or other particles in the beer. Fine carbonation kept a head going for a little, but the head was very thin and finally faded after a few minutes.

S: The smell starts with a nice whiff of sweet bourbon. The bourbon is soft, however, and you can tell this is not going to be a bourbon bomb. Sweet scents of vanilla, oak, and bourbon reel you in before some finer scents of caramel come into play. Not an overly complex nose, but the bourbon and vanilla scents are rather nice.

T: The taste is again sweet bourbon, vanilla, and some pale malts. The taste is not very complex, as it is predominantly bourbon, but it is still very nice and blended rather well. Bourbon, vanilla, oak, and pale malts.

Overall, I was very glad to try this beer. It is not very complex, but if you are looking for a straight-forward bourbon beer on the lighter side, this is a great option.

Poured into goblet at refrigerator temperature with little lingering head. Appearance is an attractive golden brown; aroma suggests apple cider, sugar, oak, and lemon. Mouthfeel is light and spritzy. The beer is most closely reminscient of a malt cider, were there to be such a thing; little hop aroma or taste is present; despite the claim of 8.19% ABV, there is no alcohol taste (research was required to verify this number, actually.) Given this high ABV, the drinkability of this brew is quite high, although it might be higher with more familiar flavors. This is definitely a unique beer without the need to come out of left field like some other highly esteemed breweries. While not an everyday libation, this is one that is definitely worth trying, especially given its limited distribution. Recommended.

pours nice bourbon color. resembles a classic kentucky bourbon.
smells slightly of whiskey, but no very strong. mostly alcohol.
T: tastes very bitter and boozy, successful bourbon transferrence. I think someone mixed actual bourbon with this beer. I like a nice bourbon on rocks, and I like this ale. if you don't like bourbon don't drink this beer.

The pour is an attractive show. It appears to be a rich looking beer, but your eyes are immediately distracted by the cascading of the forming head. The color is actually a somewhat clear amber orange. It's not that rich looking at all. The head is a snow white collection of symmetrical bubbles that retains fairly well. Medium spotting of lace.

It's quite nice for an English ale with a combination of caramelly malts and subtle dark fruits. No hop presence and nothing noticeable as far as alcohol is concerned.

The fruits are no longer evident in the taste. The malt is there, but I can't pick up the caramel. Also, hops are now present in the swallow. Kind of standard issue English hops and malts. The taste is not bad at all, but somewhat disappointing given the smell. Not sure what the grain bill is for this, but it's full of graininess.

Very grainy mouthfeel. The graininess sticks with you. There's a pinch of sweet to start off, but the classic English variety hops soon take over. It's never overly bitter, just very present. There's a bit of bourbony taste and feel as the beer gets close to the swallow. Medium bodied. There's not much in the way of carbonation, but there's something that scrapes the palate clean after each sip.

It's a pretty good beer for the type. The flavors aren't assertive and they're kind of mundane in that they don't blow you away. Still, it's an easy beer to drink (despite the grainy feel) and has a nice ABV level. You could certainly do worse.

Poured into a standard Shaker-style glass. Glass of cold water on the side to sip from periodically.

Appearance: The beer pours out a clear dark golden color with ½" white head that soon recedes to thin film and a small ring around the glass. Sipping leaves a light lacing but the lacing is mostly gone by about half way through the beer.

Smell: The aroma is soft and filled with the coconut, vanilla and oak of the bourbon cask with some hints of faint caramel from the malt. There is no sign of any hops here.

Taste: The flavor here is all about the bourbon barrel with active support from the malts in the ale. There is coconut and vanilla as expected from the aroma. This is layered over the sweet caramel malt that provides a nice backbone. The flavor is almost too sweet but somehow seems quite right and I suspect having the hops play a more active role would be a mistake.

Mouthfeel: The mounthfeel is medium bodied to light bodied, with moderate carbonation that becomes very faint and hard to detect well before the end of the beer. The finish is medium length and is soft and sweet with no hops detectable. (Seems to me that it is in the finish where a bit of dry bittering effect from the hops would be nice to prepare one for the next sip.)

Drinkability: This is a sipping beer and it is easy to let one sip follow another, but it is also a one per evening type beer because of the sweetness of the malt and bourbon character of the beer. As an example of bourbon barrel aging this is a very nice beer that illustrates well that such aging need not be restricted to Stouts and Barleywines. The bourbon barrel comes through clearly and adds a nice aroma, flavor and character to the ale.

Had this beer about 3 years ago and couldn't remember what it was called so I looked it up. The beer itself was really good and has a nice strong flavor. The color was rich and smelled great. I am not much of a whiskey can but I really enjoyed the beer.

A mix of my two favorite things. Beer and bourbon. You can taste the the carmel flavor from the ole barrels and it has a wonderful smooth finish which was a pleasant surprise for a bourbon barrel beer.

Really smooth brew with enought bourbon that you know its there. Slighly sweet from bourbon, but not heavy or liquor like. Lighter version of BBC Bourbon Barrel stout that can be too heavy and bourbon like, which I've thrown up before. Its not pretty. Totally poundable, easy to drink, with some nice bourbon touches. The original brew is probably week as hell, I dont get much "beer" from this one.

On tap into a tulip glass. A dark translucent amber body, no real head to speak of but a white ring of bubbles. Smell is really lacking to the point that I feel like I have a stuffy nose from a cold, which I don't. Only the faintest hint of bourbon comes through.
Ahh, well at least the taste delivers. Extremely strong notes of vanilla from the bourbon. For what is self-described as a sipper, I'd say this is really tasty and drinkable for a bourbon barrel aged beer, let alone and English strong ale. You get a nice dark fruit backbone in the middle but finishes smooth and crisp.
Weak smell, very nice taste.

Pours a clear amber with a thin creme head. Nose is boozy, like I was taking a whiff of bourbon. Flavor is more bourbon than anything. Not really complex at all. But it is creamy. Feel carries the same character on liquid and carbonation is lower. A nice sipper. If you like the bourbon, this is pretty heavy with it, so you'd be happy.

A - super clear light amber color with a modest head and decent lacing

S - strong aroma of bourbon and oak, not much else; no hop and a faint hint of malt

T - oaky moderately sweet malt at first with the whisky flavor throughout from start to finish; the hop is only for balancing as any hop flavor is absent but finishes with only a touch of sweetness

M - medium body, moderate carbonation

D - This is truly a different and unique beer. I've had a number of stouts and barleywines aged in barrels and this is truly unique. Despite it's high abv, I find this beer highly quaffable - dangerously so. It almost reminds me of a fuller bodied seltzer & bourbon drink to a point and also somewhat like Vernor's, a soft drink from Michigan that is aged in oak (I grew up with Vernor's - can't help but see some similarity). This is definitely worth a try, but don't come to the glass with expectations of a complex strong ale - it is unassuming and doesn't pull any punches.

Pours a bright golden-orange hue that's both clear and well-carbonated. A torrent of bubbles rises up from the etched glass bottom to help fuel a fleeting, eggshell-creme head that dissipates to a ring of bubbles. The aroma is more muted than I had hoped, with a slight hint of vanilla oak, bourbon, crystal malts, and floral hops.

The flavor easily makes up for what the aroma lacks, with a smooth, oaked vanilla kick and a hint of spicy bourbon heat. The hops are slight, while the malts are husky and lightly breaded. Body is on the thinner side of things considering the style, but the carbonation level and smoothness certainly make this a drinkable beer. Although the steep price limits the purchasing potential for this brew ($11/4-pack), its still a tasty treat from the center of bourbon country, USA.

I have to give big props for individuality. I almost don't know how to describe the taste of this beer. A couple of very pronounced flavors hit me at different times. Initially it's a very typical American amber, but quickly lightens (as I swallow) to something more like a pale.

The smell is really nothing special. I mean, I like ambers so I'm already predisposed to liking how this smells, but if I'm being objective about it there's really nothing special about it.

I already described the initial taste, but the after taste was what made this beer fun to drink for me. I had a couple of bottles, one poured into a pint glass, the other straight from the bottle. The bourbon flavor was really pronounced when I drank from the bottle, and when I drank from the glass I got a lot of the wood and vanilla flavors I had heard about.

The mouth feel was another enjoyable characteristic, more so out of the bottle than the glass. I'm not a big fan of heavy carbonation but they seem to have hit a really nice balance here. If anything the carbonation helped to enhance the lighter undertones like the vanilla to balance out the more noticeable flavors of the traditional amber.

Overall, it's certainly not something I expected, and to be honest it was an impulse buy by my buddy who thought it looked like something different to try. So I have to say it was pleasantly surprising and if I am ever offered one I will definitely take it. But would I buy it again? Probably not. It's a novelty and something to try if you're looking for a break from your norm. But it's not a good session beer and it's not something that I would look for on a regular basis.

*I'm young, I only started really thinking about good beer three years ago, and this is my first review on the BA. So feel free to review my review and tell me how I did. I welcome criticism and advice.*

Thanks to PPoitras for the bottle
Pours a deep copper and amber colors with a thin veneer of head that quickly dissapates.
Aroma has that sweet sour mash aroma with some charcoal, a bit of corn liquor and some caramelized malt present. More on the floral then on the peaty side of the spectrum.
Flavor is heavy on the butterscotch side with some bittering hops preventing it from reaching cloying state.
Mouthfeel was pretty solid, especially given the road it took to my home bar. As it warmed really produced a nice boozy, liquor feel that was just sublte enough to be overpowering but really enjoyable. Sort of a light pale or amber with some bourbon characteristics, not over the top at all.
Drinkability was fairly high. Could have been a real booze burner but it really settled into a fairly mellow and flavorful beer. Well made and really enjoyable twist.

A- This beer has a light golden maple wood crystal clear body with a thing white film of head. There are a few strands of tiny bubbles trailing to the surface.

S- This beer has a big smell of sweet bourbon and a slightly oaky smell with a hint of smoky flavor as it warms.

T- This beer has a smooth sweet bourbon flavor with a light caramel note in it. There is a dark toffee note that comes through as it warms with an oaky and wet wood taste aswell. The finish has a slight white sugar note but no alcohol bite.

M- This beer has a medium-light mouthfeel with a tiny fizz finish that dries out the beer nicely. There is a slight creamy texture that is more noticeable when it is warm and it doesn't have any alcohol heat.

D- This beer has nice big bourbon and barrel flavors but it is a bit too much like candy flavors. They are not overly sweet but they could use something to balance or give more depth to the flavors.